PAST NEWS

LONDON A GO GO

Kicking off this Bank Holiday Sunday, Aug 25th, I’ll be embarking on a month of rather splendid dates around Ol’ London Town. All starts with compering and flipping the discs on the main stage of the Clerkenwell Festival. August end on the 31st in Leytonstone with Oh! Gunquit and Miraculous Mule for What's Cookin'. But come Sept 7th, I’ll be back on the turntables of Brave Sir Robin, where I'll comfortably slot into the space right by the bar, on the eve of turning 67. A week later, Saturday Sept 14th, I join the bill alongside fellow guests Paul-Ronney Angel and 7inch Max to celebrate the launch of The Future Shape Of Sound new single launch. After that night's testifying down by the river, there's a perfect chance to ease our tormented souls back down to earth with another date at Brave Sir Robin, for a Sunday afternoon JA-style session of Ska, Dub & Roots Reggae. Back for the first time in a while at the Constitution with my Club Limbo buddies, the following weekend starts here on Friday Sept 20th, before rounding off my Go Go month with a 5-hour session at Mirth, Marvel & Maud. If still standing, on the 28th I’ll take the groove 40 miles west and slide along the M4 for a rearranged Purple Turtle garden party and give Reading a dose of what it’s all a-go-go about.

SUMMER 2019 IS HERE: ...and there's dancing in the streets

Summer is underway and Scratchy has already appeared at Africa Oye in Liverpool on the Trenchtown stage, a wonderful free festival where he was able to see a majestic set from the legend that is Horace Andy, as well as being blown away by relative new-comers, the dynamic BCUC from South Africa. Back in London, at the Somers Town street festival, he kept the Cock Tavern stage linked and locked, the day ending with a great performance from the Peter Perrett Band, which also featured a few songs where Peter was joined by John & Alan of The Only Ones.

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Rain stopped play on Scratchy's July Garden Party gig at the Purple Turtle. Worry not Reading, the date has been rescheduled for September, a month that will also see Scratchy back at Club Limbo at the Constitution.

Still to come, Scratchy will round off July on the 27th, returning with a bunch of 45s to the decks of Brave Sir Robin. August then finds Scratchy in Andalucia and Ariano. From Aug 8th to 11th, Scratchy will be part of the rotating line-up, alongside his Texan carnales, Los Skarnales, each night playing a different white town as part of the Pueblos Blancos Festival, taking in Montejaque, Grazalema, Villaluenga del Rosario and the spectacularly gorge-ous Ronda. The following week, it's off for a third time to the Ariano Folk Festival, to play the main stage alongside Gaye Su Akyol and Natty Bo & The Top Kats.

AUG 14th - 18th 2019: Ariano Folkfestival

This August, Scratchy will return to play the wonderful Ariano Folkfestivalfor a third time.

MAY DAY 2019: Scratchy joins 'Caribbean Dandy' and launches new website

Coinciding with the launch of this revamped website, it is with immense pleasure that we can also announce that Scratchy has been invited to become part of the Tokyo-based DJ Collective Caribbean Dandy, whose members he has regularly worked alongside over the course of the six tours he has made to Japan.

Satoru Fujii a.k.a Satol F. (Clandestino), Tetz Matsuoka a.k.a Prince Matsuoka (Club Ska), Kaz Sudo (Afro Boogaloo Ska Academy), Txako (Japonicus) and Amemiya ksk (discos Papkin) all have their own unique talents, style and specialities, but are bound together in a commonality of spirit and shared love of global mestizo music. Scratchy’s broad and deep, roots rockin’ rhythms and blues foundation to The Rock and The Roll of The World, further complements the mix of sounds, as well as characters, that goes into making Caribbean Dandy so special.

Scratchy says: "I am so proud that my brothers and sister of Caribbean Dandy, are not only my friends and family, but have seen fit to bestow on this veteran, such an incredible honour and I look forward to hooking up with them around the globe, wherever and whenever is possible"

MARCH 2019: Hanami Return Tour

March 2019, Scratchy will be setting sail on his sixth outing around Japan.

The Hanami Return Tourwill once again be seeking a sky full of the sakura cherry blossom. Along the way, Scratchy will be hooking up with many of his ol' friends from the Japonicus, Caribbean Dandy and Club Ska DJ posses, whilst playing in places both new - Higashi Murayama, Yamagata and Utsunomiya, which is famous for its Gyozas - as well as revisiting Kiryu, Sendai and, of course, slotting in some Tokyo gigs as well.

SAT JAN 19th 2019

Scratchy kicks the year off with a long overdue return to Helsinki to play alongside Finnish legends Pelle Miljoona Oy, themselves now reaching forty years since they first came together. Veritable new-comers!